Door support



MarchZS, 1941. J. GALAMB 2235.875

DOOR SUPPORT Filed July 6, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 25, 1941.. J. GALAMB 2,235,875

noon SUPPORT Filed July 6, 1937' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 y lWNTOR. BY fl fu ATTORNEY.

iatented Mar. 25, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOOR SUPPORT Joseph Galamb, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Mich., a corporation i of Delaware Application July 6, 1937, Serial No. 152,280

1 Claim. (Cl. 217-60) The object of my invention is to provide a door Figure 10 is a section taken on line Ill-ID of support which will hold a vehicle trunk door or Figure 2. vehicle hood in an elevated position when desired. Figure 11 shows a side elevation of the rear My improved door support is designed to autoportion of the vehicle having my invention in a matically hold the door in its opened position form of a hinged type of support for holding the upon the door being raised. After the door has trunk door in its open p it n. nd come to rest in its open position and is again Figures 12 through 17 show progressive posiraised slightly from its open position, the holding tio s of the parts of this form of trun l d s pmeans is released to allow the door to be lowered p rt dur n o e y e f l si a d op the m to its closed position. This permits the door to trunk door. be opened and held in this position with only the Referring o i ure 1. I h ve used the reference use of one hand, whereas two hands are required numeral Ill to indicate the hood which covers the with th usual tru k do support, engine compartment of a motor vehicle. This The applicant i aware that numeroustype f hood is hinged at its rear edge so as to swing to 5 mechanisms have been designed to accomplish a position shown y dotted e II. y proved the identical purpose of the applicants device, d support compri a p of telescopic membut most of these are objectional in that they are hers, the lower member of i h s pi lly senot positive in operation, that, is, they depend cured t0 the vehicle dash While the upper end Of upon the forceof gravity or the operation of a the other member s pivotally s cured to the 20 spring to move some part to effect the release or underside of the how H at a Point p ced fOr- 20 support of the door. The object of the appliweirdly om its hinged edge- It is immaterial cants device is to provide a hood support of the which of the two members comprising y pelass described wherein the holding means is Port is secured to the body as the device is p d positively moved to position every other time the to k equally W611 in any P ntrunk dooris raised. In case any of the parts 0I-1e the telescopic s. the lower mem- 25 become stuck so that the supporting mechanism m this installation, is formed- S relatively will not function, it will be impossible to raise the flat having an elongated slot is therein lid. Thus the operator can be assured if he is extendmg nearly t full th t ereof. A U- able to raise the lid that upon the release of same shaped brace fastened to the back of t 3 it will be supported bar [3 intermediate or the ends of the slot [3,

TWO designs of my improved support are Shown; the purpose of which is to prevent distortion of one being a telescopic support adapted to hold the P Spreadmg of the slot from bending the hood of an automobile in its raised position, gimme The upper end 0f the bar 12 is v d d while the other is a hinged support adapted to Wlth a laterally exieridms ear and a three hold the door of a vehicle trunk in its elevated tooth Star Wheel 15 plveially mounted upon position. The same invention is employed in both T ear by means of a pm The Wheel of these devices is rotatably mounted on one side of the ear l5.

With these and other objects in View, my fiat spring 36 prevents the wheel I6 from spinvention consists in the arrangement; construction although It IS relanvely free The upper member of the telescopic unit comand combination of the various parts of my imprises a bar '8 having a pair of uid ri t Is 40 proved device, as described in this specification, Secured therein one near it 1 g V6 5 d laimed in m claim and illustrated inthe ac- S owermos end an o i the other spaced a short distance upwardly therecompanymg dr wi 1n i from. These rivets are each provided with a head Figure 1 IS a side elevation of the front por- 20, the rivets extending through the slot [3 and tlon of a moto Ve havmg my lmproved the head 20 preventing their disengagement from port installed there position o the hood the slot 13. The bar [8 is thus free for telescopic support when the hood is open is shown by dotted movement from the bottom of the slot I3 to the lines in this View. I upper end thereof. The U-shaped bracket I4 has Fi ure 2 is a side e ev o of e d support sufiicient height that the heads 20 of the rivets 50 shown in Figure 1. slide therebeneath.

Figures 3 through 9 show the various parts of That portion of the bar l8 adjacent to the lower the support in progressive stages through one end is provided with a cam member having a face complete cycle of lowering and then raising the. 2| of irregular contour which coacts with the hood to its locked position, a star Wheel l6 to efiect the function of this device 55 It will be noted that the star wheel [6 is provided with three teeth and that a line is drawn from the center of the wheel outwardly through one of the teeth. This line is used solely to show the rotary movement of the wheel. Through one cycle of operation the star wheel 16 rotates through and the designating line is placed thereon to better visualize this movement of the wheel.

Referring to Figure 3, I have shown the members in position where the hood is supported, as shown by dotted lines H, in Figure 1. In this position a projection 22 on the cam face 2| bears against one of the teeth of the star wheel l6, designated as number I tooth, thereby wed'ging the cam face laterally so that the rivets are pressed against the far edge of the slot l3. In this position it is impossible for the bar it to slide downwardly on the bar l2. In order to telescope the members, the hood must first be raised to the position shown in Figure 4. When in this position, a cam 23 on the end of the cam face 2|, bears against the lowermost tooth, numbored 2, of the star wheel to cause movement of the wheel in the direction of arrow 24. A notch 25 is cut in the cam face 2| between the projection 22 and cam 23, so that number I tooth is rotated into this notch by the action of cam 23 upon the number 2 tooth. If now the hood is lowered, the upper end of the notch 25 bears against the number I tooth and rotates the star position shown in Figure 5. Upon the continued lowering of the bar 18 the projection 22 bears against the number I tooth to rotate the wheel to the position shown in Figure 6. The bar IS may then be lowered to the full extent permitted by the hood.

When it is desired to raise the hood, the bar 18 is drawn upwardly, the upper face of the projection striking against the number I tooth and rotating it a few degrees in a clockwise direction. It will be noted from Figure '7 that the upper edge of the projection 22 strikes against number 3 tooth of the star wheel rotating it counterclockwise to the position shown in Figure 7. If new the bar it is raised still further, the number I tooth of the star wheel bears against a cam 23 on the face 21 which is disposed at such an angle that the star wheel is rotated clockwise to the position shown in Figure 8, where a shoulder between the cams 23 and 25 bears against the end of the number i tooth to stop further extension of the members. The clockwise movement of the star wheel effected by the cam 26 has moved the number 3 star wheel tooth to the position shown in Figure 8. If now the hood is lowered, the underside of the projection 22 strikes against the upper end of the number 3 tooth, as shown in Figure 9. When the weight of the hood is impressed thereon, the star wheel moves to the original position shown in Figure 3 where the hood is held in its open position.

From the foregoing it will be seen that each time the above mentioned cycle is completed, the star wheel it has been rotated in a clockwise direction through 120. It will be further noted that in no instant during the cycle is the star wheel permitted free movement in either direction. Consequently, the star wheel cannot spin. No springs are provided for rotating the wheel or returning the parts to their original positions and, consequently, the device will invariably function unless the wheel becomes boundfor any reason. In this case it will be impossible to move the hood as the wheel must rotate before the hood may be fully raised. The operator is thereby assured that if the hood can be raised to its upper position that he may feel free to let go of same and under no circumstances will the hood drop. This is a very important feature of the applicants device in connection with automobiles as the type of hood shown has in the past been a source of accidents, due to the hood dropping on the fingers of the operator.

Referring to Figures 11 through 17, I have shown this invention when applied to a hingedtype of support which is especially adapted for use in connection with trunk lids and the like. The trunk lid has been given the reference numeral 21 and is hinged at 28 to the rear of the car. The trunk lid support is composed of two members 23 and 3!, which instead of being telescoped together, as was the hood support previously described, are hinged together at the center by rivet 39 and have their free ends pivotally secured to the body and trunk lid of the car respectively. The star wheel 16 is in this case pivotally secured to the arm 29 a short distance above the rivet. 30, this star wheel being identical to that shown in Figures 2 through 9 of the drawings.

In this form of my invention the uppermost member is provided with the star wheel and the lower member is provided with a cam face, while in the previously described structure the star wheel was fixed to the lower member and the cam face was formed on the upper member.

The cam face in this installation has been given the reference numeral 32 and consists of a socket 33 in which the number I tooth of the star wheel projects. The abutting end of the number I tooth and the socket 33 is-oifset laterally from the line joining the center of the star wheel axis and the rivet 30 so that the further pivotal movement of the arm 29 in a counterclockwise direction around the rivet 30 is prevented and the lid is supported. If now it is desired to lower the trunk lid, the lid is first moved upwardly a few degrees from the position shown in Figure 11, to cause the arm 29 to swing clockwise around the pivot 30. An edge 3'l on the upper end of bar 3| strikes against the number 3 star wheel tooth and rotates the star wheel counterclockwise to the position shown in Figure 1 3. The-number l tooth has then been moved to position over a notch 34 which corresponds to the notch 25 in the previous design. When the trunk door is let down, the arm 29 swings in a counterclockwise direction-around the pivot 30 and 'the tooth 33 is positively rotated through the position shown in Figure 14 to the position shown in Figure 15. This is the position of the star wheel when the trunk door is closed.

If it is now desired'to open the trunk door, the same is lifted which rotates the arm 29 in a clockwise direction up beyond the position shown in Figure 15 to that shown in Figure 16. When this occurs, the outer portion of the cam beyond the socket 33 bears against the number 2 tooth to thereby direct the number I tooth into a notch 35 formed between the edge 3-! and the notch 34. If now the door is allowed to drop, the arm 29 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction and the number 2 tooth is forced to enter the socket 33 to thereby support the lid, as shown in Figure 12.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the two designs shown are essentially a single inventlon and that in one case the invention is applied to a pair of telescopic members with the cam faces formed on the end of one member and the star wheel formed on the other member, while in the other caseth'e invention is applied to a hinged member with the star wheel secured to one portion of the hinge and the cam face formed on the adjacent portion. The invention in this case is believed to reside in the provision of a star wheel which is positively rotated through a certain definite angular movement without the use of springs or without spring urged dogs or the like. The advantage of this construction over all other automatic supporting devices known to the applicant is in the positive operation of the star wheel which ensures a degree of safety not heretofore provided with this type of mechanism. Where springs or gravity operated devices are provided, rust and dirt will cause a certain percentage of these devices to stick which, when same occurs, is a source of great danger to the user of such equipment.

Some changes may be made in the arrangement, construction and combination of the various parts of my improved device, without departing from the spirit of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claim such changes as may reasonably be included within the scope thereof.

I claim as my invention:

A support for an element of the class described comprising, a pair of articulated members, one of said members having a star wheel with three equally spaced teeth thereon rotatably mounted in position adjacent to its connection with the second of said members, said second member having a cam face formed thereon in position to coact with said star wheel and lock said members in element supporting position, one end of said cam face upon the maximum extension of said articulated members from said element supporting position striking one of the teeth of said star wheel and rotating same in one direction through a small fraction of the angular distance between said star wheel teeth, and upon the collapse of said members the other end of said cam face striking the next tooth to continuing the rotation of said wheel through substantially angular distance, said cam face having a notch therein which upon the next extension of said members coacts with said last mentioned tooth to rotate said wheel a fractional part of said 120 degrees, and said cam face having a socket therein which upon the next collapse of said members coacts with the next tooth of said wheel and prevents further collapse of said members.

JOSEPH GALAMB. 

